Bard #

Bards use Guile to power many of their abilities, especially some Flourishes. Every Bard has 3 Guile in Adventurer Tier, 4 Guile in Champion Tier, and 5 Guile in Epic Tier. It’s restored during a Quick Rest.

Once per turn, you can spend 1 Guile as a free action on or outside your turn to give 1 Disadvantage to an attack against your PD.

• Champion Perk: If the attack against your PD misses, if you’re sustaining a song, the sustain roll gains 1 Advantage.
• Epic Perk: You have one extra maximum Guile.

Bardsongs are powers that create effects that last as long as the song is sustained. These are usually songs, but don’t have to be, as long as they have an audible component. For the purpose of various abilities, these count as Spells (and offensive Bardsongs count as Ranged Spells).

Every Bardsong has the Sustain keyword. If you don’t spend the action or the Sustain roll fails, the song’s effect ends at the end of your turn and the effect listed under Final Verse takes effect.

You can only have one Bardsong effect active at once. Some Bardsongs have effects when you successfully roll to Sustain instead of active effects; these only happen if you actually roll to Sustain.

• Adventurer Perk: You may spend a move action to attempt a quick-action Sustain (instead of spending the quick action). If you do, the Sustain roll gains 1 Advantage.
• Champion Perk: You may choose to ignore the Final Verse of a Bardsong to gain 1 Advantage on the Recharge roll for that Bardsong (or give it 13+ Recharge if it’s normally Daily).
• Epic Perk: One encounter per day, you may use two Bardsongs at once. Both need to be sustained with the appropriate action.

Flourishes are blade movements, stances, and poses that inspire and create openings for allies. Every Flourish is a quick action by default.

Every Flourish has a Style entry. This indicates an extra bonus gained if you either fulfill the noted Style Condition, spend 1 Guile, or are using this Flourish through Active Performance. Style Conditions are used when the Flourish is triggered from Stylish Strike, Hilarious Insult, or Arrow of Verse and are based off of the attack roll. When noted, Style entries can be exempt from any of these three methods.

You gain the following ability:

Stylish Strike
Melee, At-Will, Standard

Make a basic melee attack. After you do so, you may active one Flourish as a free action instead of a quick action, using the attack’s roll for the Style Condition.

• Adventurer Perk: You may use a basic ranged attack instead of a basic melee attack with Stylish Strike. If you do so, the type changes from Melee to Ranged.
• Champion Perk: You may choose to deal half damage with Stylish Strike to gain 1 Advantage on the attack roll.
• Epic Perk: After you use Stylish Strike, Hilarious Insult, or Arrow of Verse, if you use any other Flourishes before the end of your turn, you can use the same attack roll as the Style Condition as if they were activated from that ability.

• Adventurer Perk: Once per day, you may spend one standard action to do both of the above effects.

• Adventurer Perk: You can choose positive or negative instead of picking at random.

• Adventurer Perk: You can ignore any Twists from 1’s and 6’s with your Ballad dice.
• Champion Perk: When you use a Ballad Die, you may also give the roll 1 Advantage or Disadvantage.
• Epic Perk: You can choose to gain 2 extra Ballad Dice with another icon at the start of the day, but you need to roll the 11+ save to generate Twists for every die rolled with either icon instead of just the first if you do.

You’re used to making decisions for your troupe and taking the brunt of the consequences. You can use your Bard skill for any social skill checks that it wouldn’t normally cover. For any that it would cover, you gain 1 Advantage.

You can treat your Guile as if it were also Prowess (so you can Spend 1 to give disadvantage to attacks vs. AC as well as PD).

• Adventurer Perk: You can use any Bardic Song effect that would normally only affect an ally on yourself.
• Champion Perk: If you spend a quick action after you use a Flourish, the ally it affects gains 1 Advantage on one attack made before the start of your next Turn.
• Epic Perk: Allies who are under the effect of any of your Bardic Songs gain miss damage equal to your level on any ability that already has miss damage.

You’re a connoisseur of old tales and histories, which has its uses. You can use your Bard skill for any knowledge skill checks that it wouldn’t normally cover. For any that it would cover, you gain 1 Advantage.

You can treat your Guile as if it were also Focus (so you can spend 1 Guile to give disadvantage to attacks vs. MD as well as PD).

If you have both Loremaster and Mythkenner, you get +1 MD (once, not once per talent).

• Adventurer Perk: If you need to make any knowledge skill check during battle, you may add Escalation to it.
• Champion Perk: Once per day, you can spend 1 less recovery when you Push your Limits for a skill check.
• Epic Perk: Once per day, you may reroll a Recharge.

You’re a master of oral storytelling, and as such, you’re especially good at embellishing and improvising. If you tell a short story about the appropriate Icon when you use a Relationship Die, you can add or subtract 1 from its value.

You can treat your Guile as if it were also Focus (so you can spend 1 Guile to give disadvantage to attacks vs. MD as well as PD).

If you have both Loremaster and Mythkenner, you get +1 MD (once, not once per talent).

• Adventurer Perk: You don’t generate Twists if you turn a Relationship Die into a 1 or a 6 using this ability.
• Champion Perk: You gain another Relationship Die.
• Epic Perk: You can Spend 1 to use this Talent on an ally’s Relationship Die.

• Adventurer Perk: You can spend 1 Guile when using a Flourish on an ally to use the same Flourish on yourself as well.
• Champion Perk: When you use a Flourish on yourself, it also affects one random nearby ally.
• Epic Perk: All Natural 15+ or higher Style Conditions are now Natural 14+.

• Adventurer Perk: Once per encounter, if you describe a particular way in which you Sustain a Song, you gain 1 Advantage on your Sustain roll that turn.
• Champion Perk: Once per encounter, when you roll to Sustain a song and succeed, you or a nearby ally can gain Temporary HP equal to your level.
• Epic Perk: One encounter per day, you gain 1 Advantage on every Sustain roll.

• Adventurer Perk: You can use either the Sorcerer’s Wild Talent (when used with a Skill) or the Wizard’s default three Cantrips (Light, Prestidigitation, Arcane Mark) with your Bard skill. Pick which you get (Wild Talent or Cantrips) when you take this feat.
• Champion Perk: All of your offensive Daily Bardsongs are Recharge 13+ instead of Daily.
• Epic Perk: You gain 1 Advantage on Final Verse attacks.

• Adventurer Perk: You can choose to do this after a failed Sustain as well.
• Champion Perk: If you spend 2 Guile after your Final Verse, it happens again on the following round if you haven’t started up another Bardsong.
• Epic Perk: Once per day, this can count as a successful Sustain roll.

• Epic Perk: Epic Perk: Once per day, as a free action, you can change out a Performance you’ve prepared for any other. You can only do this if the Daily/Recharge ability from the performance isn’t expended.

Style: Either pick two targets or the target pops off instead.

Final Verse: Pick one nearby ally. Until the start of your next turn, attacks against you or that ally gain 1 Disadvantage.

Hit: 1d4 x Level psychic damage. The target is Dazed until the end of your next turn. Miss: Psychic damage equal to your level.

Hit: 1d8 x Level + Volition x Tier psychic damage. Until the end of your next turn, when your target misses with one of its attacks, it takes half of its hit damage. Miss: Damage equal to your level. Final Verse: As above, but the self-damaging effect is 11+ save ends.

Style: The target may instead heal using a recovery.

Style: The conditions last until the end of the encounter.

Style: The save gains a bonus equal to Escalation.

Final Verse: One nearby ally gains 1 Advantage on attack rolls and may treat one enemy they attack as if they were Vulnerable until the end of their turn.

Style: This now applies to all attacks before the end of your next turn.

Final Verse: Every nearby ally can immediately pop off of every engaged enemy.

Style: Target two allies instead of one.

Final Verse: A nearby ally who gained temporary HP from this ability can heal using a recovery.

Hit: 1d4 x Level + Volition x Tier thunder damage. Miss: Thunder damage equal to your level.

Hit: 1d10 x Level thunder damage. Final Verse: As above, but half damage on a miss.

Style: Target two allies instead of one.

Final Verse: A nearby ally of your choice may immediately roll a save against a condition or a Death Save and gains 1 Advantage on the roll. This doesn’t count against failed death saves if it fails.

Style: The target can’t be crit while affected by this.

Style: Increase the current escalation die value by one.

Style: This now does not provoke Opportunity Attacks.

Hit: Dazed (11+ save ends). Hit vs Staggered: Confused (11+ save ends). Miss: Dazed until the end of your next turn.

Final Verse: As above, except target 1d4+1 enemies.

Style: Target two allies instead of one.

Final Verse: You may either roll a 13+ Recharge to replenish a Daily Bardsong or roll a Recharge for one Bardsong.

Special: Song of the Arcane can’t be replenished by any means except Full Rest.

Style: The same ally also regains 1 Power.

Special: You cannot spend 1 Guile to activate the Style entry for this.

Final Verse: One nearby ally can make a basic attack as a free action and heal using a recovery if it hits.

Style: The same ally may immediately make a basic melee or ranged attack.

Special: You cannot spend 1 Guile to activate the Style entry for this or activate this through Active Performance.

Final Verse: Each nearby non-mook enemy or group of mooks affected by this takes 1d4 x Level Psychic damage.

Style: They only have to spend one recovery.

Special: This can only be used at Escalation 2+. You cannot spend 1 Guile to activate the Style entry for this.

Final Verse: You and all nearby allies may reroll any unused relationship dice or reroll and replenish one used relationship die.

Special: This can only be used at Escalation 2+.